CCTV footage shows the moment Thomas Cashman ambushes his “intended target” Joseph Nee and shoots him in the bungled assassination attempt that led to the death of Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
Gangland thug Cashman, 34, was today convicted of the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel after a three and a half week trial at Manchester Crown Court. The St Margaret Mary’s Primary School pupil died on August 22 last year, when Cashman blindly fired a revolver into her home.
This week Thomas Cashman was handed a minimum of 42 years in prison over the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
The judge sentenced him on five counts:
- Count one: For the murder of Olivia – the sentence will be life imprisonment. The minimum term will be 42 years
- Count two: The attempted murder of Joseph Nee, the intended target of the attack. The sentence is life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years
- Count three: For wounding Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel, the sentence is 10 years imprisonment
- Count four and five: The firearms offences – the sentence is 18 years imprisonment.
All sentences are to be served concurrently, which means the shortest sentence Cashman can serve before he can be considered for early release is 42 years, less the 182 days he served on remand.
The judge says Cheryl should have been able to reassure Olivia and “tuck her back into bed”.
“What happened instead was chilling,” she adds.
She says she does not agree that Olivia’s age made her more vulnerable to being killed in these circumstances.
“The real gravity is that a young child was shot and killed in her own home”, Mrs Justice Yip tells the court.
She says had the defendant planned to kill Olivia he would have been facing a whole life order, which would mean he would have to spend the rest of his life in prison.
The judge continues, saying the evidence in the case shows that this murder did involve planning and premeditation.
“The offence is aggravated by the planning, the relentless pursuit of Joseph Nee and the use of two firearms,” she says.
The judge adds the defendant had sourced two guns and knew what vehicle Joseph Nee, the intended target, was driving.
The judge has praised the woman who gave key evidence against Cashman, saying she has granted the woman life-long anonymity.”Her evidence was significant … and she chose to do the right thing,” the judge says, adding that Cashman invented a defence aimed at “humiliating and undermining” the witness.
“It did not work,” she says.
The fact that Thomas Cashman was able to avoid coming to court today to hear his sentence for murdering nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel has been described as a “disgrace” amid calls for a change in the law.
Cashman refused to enter the court today to face Olivia’s family and hear Justice Amanda Yip.
Just before the sentencing began at Manchester Crown Court today, his defence counsel informed the court that Cashman would not be coming into court. His lawyer told the court he was concerned the matter was ‘turning into a circus’ and said he wished to be sentenced in his absence.
“This was a targeted, planned execution attempt in a residential street.
“The defendant ruthlessly pursued him and fired more shots in a determined effort to complete what he had set out to do.”
CCTV cameras mounted on houses on Kingsheath Avenue caught Nee and his friend, Paul Abraham, walking along just before 10pm. They had left the home of a man called Timothy Naylor on Finch Lane, where the group had been watching Manchester United vs Liverpool on TV.
Two loud bangs ring out in quick succession, prompting Mr Abraham to flinch and run for his life. As the jury heard, the shots had been fired from a 9mm self-loading Glock style pistol, which was not the same weapon used to shoot Olivia.
The footage shows Nee, who had been hit in the midriff, stagger to the ground as the gunman appears standing over him, when a third loud bang is audible.
According to the prosecution, it was at this point, as Cashman was undoubtedly preparing to execute the wounded Nee, that the Glock pistol probably malfunctioned.
But Nee’s life-saving stroke of fortune had horrific consequences for Olivia.
Alarmed by the commotion, Olivia’s mum, Cheryl Korbel, had opened her door and stepped outside to see what was happening. Nee, apparently spotting the open door and seeing it as his best escape route, barged in as Cheryl desperately tried to keep him out.
The door, however, had been left on a latch to allow her neighbours to pop round for a cup of tea, costing her vital seconds and allowing Nee to prevent the door from closing.
As Cheryl and Nee were struggling at the door, Cashman pulled out his backup weapon, a 0.3 calibre revolver, and fired again. Inside, little Olivia had been tucked up in bed, but the sound of gunshots outside alarmed her and she jumped up, ran down the stairs and shouted “Mum I’m scared”.
As Olivia reached the bottom of the staircase, the bullet fired by Cashman passed through the door, through Cheryl’s wrist and struck Olivia in the chest.
Cashman then reached around the door and fired again, but his final shot lodged in the door frame without causing any injuries.
Cashman, formerly of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, was also convicted of the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, wounding Cheryl Korbel with intent to cause GBH and two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
